Team member causing strife

> The head of the department has been replaced, creating a
> new "overall vibe" of more strict, structured atmosphere

Does this desire for improved rigor extend to middle management, including any line manager(s) of the team member in question?

I would start but taking the individual aside and discuss the practices he's failing at, such as good communication, showing respect, etc.

Most smart developers I know don't want to be labeled as detrimental.

I would say the desire for rigor doesn't necessarily extend to the PO's. But they are supportive of the changes.

Truth be told, it's not as rigorous as it probably sounds. He is just reinstating some of rules that had slid a bit in the past (confirmation for working from home, reviewing DoD strictly).

It's not as bad as it probably sounds. But it caused a bit of apprehension and uncertainty for a bit.

What is your relationship with this "problem" team member? Can you arrange a meeting where you make your observations known?

Often when people exhibit destructive behavior, they're not natural "jerks"; instead, they have a goal in mind. Begin considering why this person's behavior has changed, and what the "end" is to their means. What are they trying to achieve?

It may also be worthwhile to have a team meeting where the 5 Scrum values are reviewed (focus, openness, respect, courage, commitment). It sounds like many of the poor behaviors from this individual run counter to these values, and you can use it as a teaching moment.

Good luck.

Posted By Timothy Baffa on 07 Dec 2016 03:59 PM
What is your relationship with this "problem" team member? Can you arrange a meeting where you make your observations known?

I am "adjunct Scrum Master" for the moment. And I do have the power to call a meeting. I am just debating on whether to do a one on one meeting to call their attention to the issue or a group meeting to allow the team to work it out.

Often when people exhibit destructive behavior, they're not natural "jerks"; instead, they have a goal in mind. Begin considering why this person's behavior has changed, and what the "end" is to their means. What are they trying to achieve?

My thoughts exactly. I think it comes from a place of stress in the office and elsewhere. It does seem uncharacteristic. But focusing on what their goals are would be a good approach.

It may also be worthwhile to have a team meeting where the 5 Scrum values are reviewed (focus, openness, respect, courage, commitment). It sounds like many of the poor behaviors from this individual run counter to these values, and you can use it as a teaching moment.

Once again, my thoughts exactly. Just want to avoid the "Lets review the Scrum values speech". I feel that will just cause auto responses or tuning out. Need to come at it from a creative angle.

Whatever approach you take towards change, as a "Scrum Master of sorts", are you satisfied that you have the support of management?

Are issues relating to employee performance something that managers currently expect to be involved in?

Most of the times, the 'Intentional Troublers' in a Scrum team are created due to one of the following factors:
1--> He/She thinks they are no longed valued for what they have contributed for the team.
2--> He/She thinks they are more critical to the team and they're indispensable, also think that their work directly impacts the success / failure of an iteration. Hence, most of the times they would be brilliant in what they do.
3-->He/she doesn't respect a team member who from their opinion might not deserve or qualify to receive collective appreciation / reward for team's (esp his/her) efforts.
4--> They'd expect unabated unanimous recognition from team members & management for their work.
5--> He/she must have worked longer in a product/project than most of the team members, hence the acquaintance breeding superiority and complacency.
6--> He/She is not accountable due to reporting structure mayhem in the organization. His/Her promotion and pay rise doesn't dwell on the success or failure of the Scrum team.

So, with respect to your scenario, it seems that 'person' was clearly overlooked for your interim SM role ergo the chaos, the same person would have got along well in scrum before the re-organization and influx.

Even if you have a personal discussion, that wouldn't solve but rather aggravate the situation.
It's better to find out the root cause of descent by allowing his/her reporting manager to have a open discussion.

Sorry I haven't checked in on this thread in a while...

UPDATE: I have had the opportunity to talk to each and every team member one-on-one to try to get their perspective. And every member feels like they have been slighted in one way or another. They all seem to feel that the lack of respect for each other has broken down and all cite examples of how they have been disrespected.

I tried to tell them all that their view is not wrong, in fact their view is the correct view. There is no way to dispute that. If you feel like you have been wronged (e.g. - someone going behind your back to change code), or lied to, or people talking behind your back you can't argue with that. Its their reality, ergo the "correct" one.

I also tried to tell them all that for the good of the team they should just "forgive and forget" and move on. Start with a blank slate. I also drove home the fact that I knew this wasn't easy and shared personal experiences where I had to face the same kind of challenge. I think they only half-heartedly accepted this idea. The damage runs a bit too deep.

In the end, they are still working together, they aren't outwardly hostile to each other, but it still breaks my heart to see this happening. They do their work, they get it done, but they aren't truly collaborating. They were such a great team at one time. I know I am biased, but they truly were the best in our department.

With the new head of our department coming in there are strong implications that they are moving to a waterfall model. Starting with removing Scrum Masters (Hey! Thats me!) and restructuring the teams to have a more technical focus. I hate to say it, but in this case I think this is the right move. This team is heavily damaged and it is time to break it down and restructure it.

Don't worry about me though, I am moving to another department entirely, and they are curious about Scrum and Kanban. So, hey! New opportunities. Keep on moving! Keep on improving!

"I am relatively new to the whole Agile process. However, I have had the good fortune to be on a high producing, well meshed (or so I thought) team. They accept Agile wholeheartedly and work very well within the framework. I have been working with this team on various aspects for the last 6 months (as an intern). "

For this I would suggest you to go for a Scrum Training or atleast familiarize yourself with the various aspects of Scrum. This will make your job easier and you will be able to find solutions for most of your problems.

"There have been some big changes in our organization as of late.
Our PO retired, we got a new very capable PO who works a little bit differently (but still well within scrum). The head of the department has been replaced, creating a new "overall vibe" of more strict, structured atmosphere (which is fine).
The old Scrum Master of this team has been reassigned to other duties and cannot focus on the team. "

As a Scrum Master its your job to ensure that the Team does not get affected by this.

"I have been thrown into the mix as a "substitute teacher Scrum Master" of sorts (stayed tuned).
Our office has been in flux over the last few months. That is totally fine, we can adapt."

You need to understand being a Scrum Master is a full time responsibility.

"Its been a couple of months with all of these big changes going down and one of the team members has become a bit confrontational. I hate to use that word, but it almost fits."

Being confrontational is not a problem, as long as they have stopped believing that Scrum does not works. But if this behavior is affecting the productivity of the team, then you might have to point this out and see how this can be improved upon.

"They are pulling items out of the backlog out of order (without consulting the team). Which results in more work."

The Team cannot pull something out from the Product backlog. By backlog you mean Product Backlog right ? To decide what goes in a Sprint backlog you need Sprint Planning meeting in the first place.


"Their communication with team members is either lacking or bordering on argumentative. I originally chalked this up to passionate debate about code, resulting in an eventual solution but I have just learned that is not so.
They are showing a lack of respect for the other team members opinions and interrupting conversations which is resulting in team members eventually just throwing their hands up and giving up. "

I am presuming because of this behavior, the Team productivity is going down. If yes you can bring this up during the Retrospective meeting. Also, if this continues you might need to use force and ask them to adhere to Scrum principles if not they will be forced out of the team.